Michael Crider writes primarily for Android Community and covers Windows for SlashGear. A native-born Texan, Michael's previous careers include graphic design, TV and movie blogging and technical writing. You can follow him on Twitter (@MichaelCrider ) and Google+ for geeky insights on sci-fi, detective noir and Big Band music.

If you've got a 3G device that only seldomly needs an actual mobile connection, like a tablet or hotspot, you're no doubt frustrated that they're normally sold with expensive contract plans. T-Mobile hopes to alleviate that with a handful of new off-contract plans. Of course, you'll need to buy their hardware outright, but for quite a bit of customers this might make a lot more sense. Naturally you'll get access to T-Mobile's "4G" HSPA+ network.

Both AT&T's LTE network and Windows Phone 7 as a whole are coming into their own, and it's about time that they had a budget option. Luckily, the Samsung Focus 2 handily fits into both these categories. With modest but appreciated improvements and a rock-bottom $50 price tag, it's sure to find a few WP7 convents when it launches later this month. Should you be among them? We'll have a review up in a few days, but for now you cn check out our hands-on photos and video.

Those of you who recently picked up a Canon 5D Mark III have the comfort of knowing that your super-expensive DSLR was lovingly assembled by hand in Japan. That may not be the case for much longer: today a Canon spokesperson announced that the company would be moving towards completely automated production starting immediately. There's no definite date on when the transition will be complete, but Canon hopes to finish by 2015.

When you write for a tech blog like SlashGear, it's hard to be surprised at Apple rumors. But every once in a while the source can throw you for a loop. So it is with this one: Ben Reitzes, an analyst for Barclays Capital, claims that the company will updater its MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and iMac lines as soon as next month. He's echoing things we've heard ourselves for weeks, including "Retina" displays and a new lower price point for the Air.

Here's a rumor that just won't die: Apple's coming out with an affordable 7-inch iPad. This time the perpetrators are iMore, citing the usual anonymous sources. The claim that the smaller iPad is due in October of this year, and that Apple is aiming for a retail price between $200 and $250. The exact screen dimensions aren't mentioned, but they're using 7 inches (a popular Android tablet size) as a sort of conceptual generic. They claim that the cheapest model will start at 8GB.

Perhaps more than any other camera company, Leica inspires raving reviews and gets near universal praise from enthusiasts, for which it demands some astronomical price tags. But even Leica's most dedicated supporters might have trouble backing this one: the company's latest M-class camera only shoots monochrome photos. The Leica M Monochrom was announced today, and will start shipping in July for the "relatively" low price of $7,950.

The Adobe Creative Suite receives regular updates from its creator, like most commercial software, and most of the time it's simple enhancements or security fixes. Updates are free with the purchase of the software and typically last for years after the software goes off of retail shelves. So when Adobe posted a security warning for Photoshop CS5 and proposed upgrading to the brand new CS6 as the only solution, they didn't win any friends from those who don't feel the need to buy brand new software.

The rise of TiVo and other digital video recorders foretold an apocalypse, a sweeping river of change that would destroy the television industry as we know it thanks to lowered commercial advertising revenue. Except it didn't - it just made it easier to skip those four Honda commercials interrupting Law & Order. Now DISH Network has taken it one step further, installing a feature on its Hopper DVRs that automatically bypasses commercials.

We've been waiting patiently for what seems like years to get our hands on ASUS' smartphone/tablet/netbook hybrid PadFone, and if you're currently in Taiwan you can put your money down for one right now. That's just what Netbook News did, along with the additional keyboard dock and Bluetooth headset-stylus combo, and they were kind enough to post a few minutes of gadget porn for the rest of the Internet to enjoy. Check the video after the break.

The Xbox has always been pretty Internet-focused, but over its lifetime the Xbox 360 has become the media and social hub that Microsoft dreamed of in the early 2000s. There's just one thing missing: a real web experience. According to unsubstantiated claims from The Verge, the company is planning on bringing the ubiquitous Internet Explorer to the Xbox 360, adding it to the apps, television, streaming movies and music, and social functions already in place.

Apple fans have enjoyed the Game Center in iOS for about a year and a half, and it's only cemented Apple's lead on Android in the mobile gaming market. According to Business Insider, Google is planning to even the score with its own centralized gaming network for Android some time soon. The source is anonymous, so take the news with a grain of salt, but it would certainly be a boon to Android's game developers.

Ubisoft's blockbuster running, jumping and stabbing franchise Assassin's Creed has been stuck in Renaissance-era Italy for the last three games, but it's making a big change with its next installment. Assassin''s Creed III shifts the stage to the American Revolution, and in doing so has reignited excitement among sneaky gamers. The latest trailer shows off the first gameplay as protagonist Connor Kenway literally hunts down his targets.